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Anna Brady: The bear to wear

By ANNA BRADY

McSherrystown

Posted:
03/21/2013 10:16:42 AM EDT

The snow we had recently brought back not only memories of Filbert Street and my childhood but also memories of my family as children.

I used to love to walk in the snow at night down along the "Car Line," what they used to call the end of North Street in McSherrystown. Sometimes I would walk there with my kids but most of the time I would go there at night after they were in bed and I would walk alone. It was so quiet and you could feel the snow crunch as you walked. Back then it was still very safe, just a walk through the neighborhood. My dear friend and neighbor, Edith Yarzobek, had given me an old fur coat from her sister, Grace. She lived in Long Island, New York, and worked at Macy's Department Store.

BRADY

I kept that coat for years and when we had a very cold snap, I would drag out my "Bear to wear."

In between my "confinements" if I kept my weight down, I wore the same size as "Bek." She really clothed me for years. She gave me complete outfits, except for shoes, my feet were bigger, probably from running barefoot all my childhood. What a wonderful person she was.

Anyway, when she told me about the coat, I said to my husband "what will I do? I don't even like fur coats, maybe a sheared beaver. Would you believe when she brought the coat over, that's what it was? Mike wasn't working at the time, one of our "rough spots" and my mother-in-law told me I couldn't wear it.

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"What will people say, you walking into church in a fur coat?" Up until "Bek" gave me the coat, I always thought fur coats were just, "for show" but when I realized how warm the coat was, I couldn't just let it hang in the closet while I froze every time I went outside. Needless to say, I wore that "bear" for years.

So, looking out the window during my wandering into the past, I wanted to be out in the snow. I couldn't believe how long it kept snowing, just like the old days.

Living on Filbert Street during my younger years, we were the last road (a dirt road) the borough plowed. The manager told my Dad we were the toughest, always breaking the snow plough. Back then it was a clean sweep of open fields from McSherrystown to our road. There were only three houses on Jefferson Avenue then. The snow would melt a little during the day, forming a crust on top for great sledding at night. Being the youngest in the family, my sled was a one piece job with no steering capabilities. I ran, plopped on the sled, and went where it took me.

One year the Miller boys even cut blocks of snow and built an igloo. It was great because they made it tall enough for them to be able to stand inside instead of crawling into it. A few of us could get inside together. They also built a ski ramp we used for sledding. Those were the days. Just full of good old homemade activities.